Do Referendums Promote Political Participation? The Case of Switzerland

A key benefit of democracy is political participation, usually through free and fair elections in most developed countries. A representative democracy, a usual format, allows a country’s citizens to vote for its representatives, ideally allowing them the ability to state how the country should be run. However, there have been plenty of cases in history of representatives who have reneged on their promises; hence the ‘dishonest politician’ typecast is now laughably common.

A direct democracy, on the other hand, would allow citizens a bigger decision-making role as it awards them with a voice in the actual legislation process. A fully direct democracy may not be entirely possible, due to the time and logistics required to enforce a decision, but it is arguably a much more powerful form of democracy than its representative counterpart. The closest example to this that can be observed today is Switzerland, thanks to the country’s usage of referendums.

Switzerland has held the highest number of referendums worldwide, with about 180 between 1996 and 2016. With such frequency, it would be interesting to analyze whether the use of referendums and hence the promotion of a more direct democracy is more constructive towards Swiss political participation than simple representative elections.

The anti-immigration incident proved another important problem with referendums: citizens are not always informed enough to see the big picture. The Swiss parliament has to essentially live with the fact that citizens who are not all economic or political experts can still have a say in determining legislation.

Finally, the biggest contradiction of the role of referendums to promote direct democracy is that they do not actually do so. The incredible number of referendums in Switzerland might stimulate participation in the short-run, but might lead to electoral fatigue in the long-run. The country’s 180 referendums in 20 years indicate an average of nine referendums annually — in addition to elections — ; a reality that would undoubtedly be bothersome for at least some of the country’s citizens. Voter turnout in national elections has remained between 30% to 50% since the 1950s, and amounted to just 45.6% in 2017, therefore it seems that the more of a voice people have, the less often they turn out to vote.

The direct democracy format that Switzerland has undertaken definitely fits the mold of the true meaning of democracy. Is there anything more democratic than allowing the citizens of a country to influence not only representatives, but legislation as well? In concept, it is fundamentally beneficial towards the goal of democratic political participation that would maximize the relationship between citizens and government, while also improving parliamentary efficacy. In reality however, while the intention is good, the problem with empowering citizens to this degree arises when they are misinformed about the big picture of their decisions — or at least not as informed about as parliament is — and when dealing with the electoral fatigue that decreasing voter turnout and participation in the long run.

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